Engaging the Decision Makers: Planning with Communities for the Delivery of Rural Telecommunications in Australia

Martini A¹*

1. School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia

A participatory action research study was conducted using a single case to describe and analyse community participation in health service planning in an environment of government strategies for regional, rural and remote area health care and telecommunications infrastructure planning in Western Australia. The study provides an account of the State Government of Western Australia’s planning for the implementation of a telecommunications network infrastructure between 1998 and 2002.

The purpose of the study was to examine participatory planning within the dynamic political, economic and social forces that impact on the development of regional, rural and remote area health services. Specifically, the study outlines the problems in providing for significant local participation in projects that are centrally initiated and controlled. It examines the problems in planning for projects that incorporate local community based beliefs and needs, the requirements of multiple state and national government departments, and the private sector.

Results of the in-depth interviews and survey clearly indicated consensus between all respondents that telecommunications did offer the opportunity to provide increased, improved or alternative health services. In general, participants identified a number of barriers to the planning process, including; a lack of local community inclusion in planning committees, poor communication within central government, overuse of external consultants, local information not included in the implementation plans, a bias toward the medical view, and a limited scope of invitation to contribute.

This paper provides a plan for not only engaging communities when planning for health and telecommunications services which involve the public and private sectors, but engaging the decision makers who have the final say about outcomes.

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